Here’s the Bloodshots cut of “The Vessel.”
*Here* ARE THE SUBMITTED FILMS FOR BLOODSHOTS CANADA 2007. TO VOTE ON A FILM, email your vote for BEST FILM to: bigsmashproductions@gmail.com NO LATER THAN 7PM pst FRIDAY OCT. 26th. Only one vote per email address accepted.
Press pause when you get to the Scrabble board!
Ironically enough in the Scrabulous game I’m playing with Josh I got a bingo with the word TENTACLE. For reals!
On Saturday morning Mike called with a couple very important questions.
Several weeks ago, when Mike asked if I was available to be on his Bloodshots 24 Hour Filming Frenzy team this year I unfortunately had to say no, because of the show in Chilliwack on Saturday, and V-Con. (More on both of those later.) You may recall that a couple years ago I was involved in The Veil (which by the way, you can see at http://www.intake.ca/main.php – just click on THRILLERS at the bottom), which was Mike & Co.’s entry for that year. The subgenre of horror they drew was “Lovecraftian,” so Mike called on me as story consultant and I also ended up playing “The Doctor” for a brief cameo.
Well, this year they again drew the “Lovecraftian” subgenre and so the first question that Mike asked me when he called on Saturday was “are you available in an hour for a bit of filming?” I got out of bed, had a quick shower and biked over there to reprise my role for Mike’s first ever sequel. By the time you read this, “The Vessel” is finished and submitted to the Bloodshots staff. The screening of the films is on Wednesday at the ANZA club and unfortunately that’s the first night of my new Freeport D&D campaign which I daren’t shirk off. But I can’t wait for the next available screening to see how it all turns out! Especially since the second question Mike asked was “can we use a Thickets song in the end credits” and as of this writing I have no idea which song he chose, if any.
I think the idea of an international film festival is a wonderful thing. Some people may be inclined to wait in line on rainy days for the opportunity (not the guarantee) to get into a venue with seats of questionable comfort, and packed with aromatic humans, to watch a film shown no more than three times in two weeks, that you can’t check online ahead of time to find out if it’s worth your time and effort (i.e. no reviews). I am not one of those people, but dog bless them for doing that I can then find out from them if a movie is shit or not.
ADDENDUM: Case in Point
So, clearly, The Invasion is a remake of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I’ve seen the 78 version with Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy – definitely worth watching – but I haven’t seen the ’56 version. This newest incarnation seems to be playing up the “no emotion virus” angle rather than the “alien clone” angle.
Just watched the Beowulf trailer – even the real people look fake. So disappointing.
10,000 BC looks somewhat intriguing. I hope it doesn’t follow the all style and no substance ethos of 300 and its ilk. For all you who may think I’m just naysaying modern filmmaking let me point you to the TV series Rome. I borrowed Stephane’s DVD set of the first season and I was really impressed. The series is light on CG, but when they use it, it is to excellent effect – chopping off arms and whatnot. The series goes deep into characters and interrelations, but it definitely has something for the fantasy-lovin’ crowd – rich, full costumes and weapons, architecture, the whole thing. In the extras you can see what lengths they went to to maintain authenticity. There’s a word that doesn’t come up much in these so-called “historically”-based films like 300. And there’s never a shortage of combat, and blood, but it’s not gratuitous – it’s all part of the daily life, along with slavery, prostitution, and not a whiff of the Christo-Judaic morality that’s been injected so unilaterally into our escapism. Like Stephane says, they really don’t pull any punches, and I am so relieved and grateful for that. It’s quality stuff and I recommend you track it down if you can. I haven’t seen the second season yet, but I’ve heard it’s as good as the first.
Meanwhile…
Terence Stamp, Alan Arkin, The Rock and Steve Carell in a new movie adaptation of “Get Smart?” Well I don’t think anyone can fill Don Adams’ shoes but I’m willing to give this the benefit of the doubt.
Okay, okay, okay… brace yourself… Owen Wilson…Angelica Huston, yes… JASON SCHWARTZMAN…bells ringing yet? NEW WES ANDERSON FILM!!! wiiiiiiiiiith Adrien Brody? I like, I like…. It’s called The Darjeeling Limited. September 29.
And here’s the trailer for the movie I’m most looking forward to seeing.
There’s this silent film called “Greed” that’s supposed to be all that and a bag of chips. It’s been on my list for ages. I don’t normally watch silent films because they’re a bit jammy and a bit clangy, but this one interested me as it’s about how a winning lottery ticket ruins the lives of those involved (this timely moral goes back to 1924). It was on TCM recently and I taped it, so I’m watching it in chunks when I go to bed. The original was NINE HOURS long, but the studio cut it down to two. Back in the day, film that was cut was recycled for the silver in it, so ‘restored’ films were few and far between. However in this case, a film afficionado made a four hour version using stills. It’s a little annoying to go from film to watching the Ken Burns effect, but I only just started the film last night, and maybe I’ll become accustomed to it. One thing that occurs to me…now that we have the technology, let’s recut all silent films so instead of watching the actors mouths move and wonder what they’re saying, and then go to a full screen board with text on it…may I recommend English subtitles? Sacrilege? Or brilliance? You decide. I’ve actually been watching DVDs with the English subtitles on, even when it’s a film in English. I find that it has three benefits:
1. You never mishear anything that’s mumbled, or when a biker goes by outside your window;
2. It’s way easier to pick up on proper names;
3. You never get too much reading.
Try it and let me know how it goes. You may be surprised. I’ve found that movies I’ve seen a few times, seeing everything in print along with it adds some new information.
Oh, and The Simpsons Movie is worth watching if you haven’t seen it. I give it a 7.79/10. And it’s playing at my fave theater – THE RIO on Broadway! Yay! They got a couple of new staff there, including a courteous and fetching Asian number in braces.
In other news, my mom is on Facebook.
I seemed to have got my very first ear infection this week, which came and seemingly went. That made my extremely busy two days off of work even more interesting. Tuesday I went in for an audition, did some packing and other errands, and played Call of Cthulhu with the boys. Wednesday I biked to UBC for my weekly textbook reading, then biked to East Van for a callback, then biked back to Kits for a meeting with Mike about the music video for “A Marine Biologist” and then biked back to East Van for movies and games with Stephane & Sheri. “Short Circuit” is not a good movie. But I’ve been taping stuff like mad off of Turner Classic Movies – faster than I can watch them. I’ve got a pile of VHS tapes to go through, including Blow-Up, Greed, Psycho, Curse of the Demon, Fail Safe and some others.
So I just got back from seeing Transformers. Warning: Spoilertron!
Cons:
– Extremely Hollywood (this is only a con if you’re not expecting and wanting it to be Hollywood, which I think at least everyone is expecting it).
– When I saw the early previews I noted that the bots looked excessively pointy and “cool” – I got used to that throughout the movie but I still think they could have been at least distinguished more by colour or shape – they all looked very similar and it was hard to tell who was fighting whom, sometimes.
– Weak plot overall.
– They didn’t get Frank Welker to voice Megatron, and there’s no good reason.
Pros:
– Best robots fighting you’ve ever seen.
– Unexpectedly good jokes.
– Lots of good “wow” moments, if you’re in to that sort of thing.
– They did get Peter Cullen to voice Optimus Prime.
In short, definitely worth seeing on the big screen, and you can’t go wrong with The Rio.
ps – the original Jazz was voiced by Scatman “The Shining” Crothers, who as you may know died some time ago.
Movies to see: SICKO, Ratatouille, Knocked Up (at the Rio), Transformers.
Live Free Die Hard is getting good ratings, so I might see it after I’ve seen all of the above.
Not much of a trailer, but here’s what they’ve got for the next Pixar film, about a robot, WALL-E
Also, does anyone know anything about this Will Smith film “I Am Legend?” I have a soft spot for last man on earth films, but not vampire films.
Also also – anyone seen Sunshine?
By the way – I know it’s a way off but the new Coen Brothers film opens in wide release in November. It’s called No Country for Old Men and [here] are 5 clips. If you watch only one of them, make it the second clip.
I’m going to quickly go through some movies that you could, if you wanted to, go and see in the theaters right now, and whether or not that would be a mistake.
Pirates of the Caribbean: mistake
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer: big mistake
28 Weeks Later: not a mistake
Hot Fuzz: not a mistake
Paris, J’taime: not a mistake
Spider-Man 3: mistake
Sharkwater: not a mistake
Paprika: hopefully definitely not a mistake
Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman: hopefully not a mistake
Sicko, Michael Moore’s new flick about the US health system, should be opening very soon.
I did it! Even discounting the handful of TV shows on the list, I’ve still rated on over 1000 movies on imdb.com
Recent viewings: The Best Years of Our Lives (8/10 …I would go 8.5 even); Ball of Fire (8/10 silly and great, you know the scientist from the Bugs Bunny super-rabbit cartoon? Modelled off of one of the old professors in this film. Stewie calls it Revenge of the Geriatric Nerds); House of Usher (7/10 barely); Jack the Giant Killer (4/10 Harryhausen, but more like Krofft Supershow); Three Worlds of Gulliver (6/10); To Have and Have Not (8/10 Lauren Bacall defines sultry); Young Sherlock Holmes (5/10 – too much like Harry Potter meets Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom).
